Enter the Beard - Anchorage Press
Saturday, December 24, 2011 at 01:55AM
In May of 2009, Anchorage was invaded by the most conspicuous convention in recent memory. People who were out and about, particularly downtown, simply could not miss the men who gathered here for the 2009 World Beard and Mustache Competition. Everywhere we looked, it seemed, there was a man sporting facial architecture of the most impressive sort—Garibaldis, imperials, gravity-defying Dalis, and crazy-ass handlebar mustaches. Anchorage’s reaction was notable too, as the men became local celebrities for a few days. People-watching voyeurs would have noticed dinner date interruptions, when females insisted on leaving their tables to have a photo taken next to the some of the more impressive chin growth.
Last weekend a short documentary about the event, ambiguously titled Enter the Beard, by a small cadre of independent filmmakers, premiered at the NW Projections festival in Bellingham, Washington. The 20-minute doc might make a good postcard for the “beardos” the filmmakers met in Anchorage, but it’s also a decent bit of comedic sociology for anyone with twenty minutes to spare.
“I can’t really grow a full beard,” one man sporting long goatee confesses to the camera. “All you have to do [to grow a beard],” another says, "is just not do something else.”
A man with a Canadian accent talks about becoming sick of shaving-years ago, of course. He is dressed in a denim jacket with a Harley Davidson trademark above his breast and a bushy white au naturel growth extends to his belly. He raps casually about the looks he gets from strangers, implying he is often profiled as a redneck thug.
“I hate shaving, so just grow a beard and be done with it, eh?” he says, then answers a query about his wife. “I shaved it off one time, years ago, and she gave me shit, eh?”
The doc has its own gonzo, on camera narrator in Charles Parker Newton, who hams it up a la Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me. Newton enters his own modest Verde-style beard and mustache in the competition after shopping for appropriately conspicuous attire at Mad Hatter. To the film’s credit it doesn’t fall into the too-self-aware storyline Spurlock took; instead of dwelling on Newton’s transformation, it gives more serious competitors their due.
“He’s a rare gem,” shooter and producer Scott Ballard says of Newton. “We got to know him pretty fast, and after hanging out with Parker for just a short time, we knew he had that ability to be on camera and set people at ease.” (Newton and Ballard are two of four people who get producer credits on the project. Ballard makes his living in freelance photography and videography.)
Flashlight had to congratulate Ballard for not allowing his lens to dwell on Alaska’s landscape, instead letting it serve only as backdrop. The natural beauty of his subjects—men in beards—owns the show. Ballard confessed he shot 26 hours of footage for the 20-minute doc, and credited Matt Lawrence for editing tight from the shoot. “It is so easy to get distracted by the beauty of Alaska and that road trip up,” he says, adding the filmmakers needed to complete a story without going too far astray.
Enter the Beard scored two awards at the Bellingham festival: best short documentary and an audience choice poll (of course, it is Ballard’s hometown fest). He says he hopes to screen the film at more festivals this summer and at the Anchorage International Film Festival. That means the Alaskans who met the crew and are curious about the finished product might get to see it in December. Meantime you can track Enter The Beard’s progress as it makes the festival rounds at the web site scottballardfilms.com.
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